The Methodist Quarterly Review

revolution—not having boon conducted hitherto in a revolutionary spirit—may, through the wisdom and moderation of its leaders, be destined to combine Italy into one kingdom, to avert foreign interference, and thus to consolidate an independent native government, which will give free scope to the inherent, but suspended powers of Italian genius. With regard to the kingdom of Greece, whatever may be its future destinies, its emancipation from the barbarizing effects of a longcontinued Turkish dominion is too recent to admit of its holding any prominent place in European civilization for the present.

Such being the nations which hold the primacy of the civilized world, anything which shakes the United States to its center, and which threatens to change its internal policy and its relations with foreign governments, is an event of first-rate importance.

His view of the prospects beyond disunion is thus expressed:—

We will only, in conclusion, express our opinion that the maintenance of the Union in perpetuity is impossible; and that the entire region from Niagara to Mexico, and from New York to California, cannot continue for many years to be governed by a single Federal Government. Dissolution, to some extent, and at no distant period, is, we believe, the 'manifest destiny'of the United States. Whenever this dissolution takes place, international law will regulate the relations of the new confederacies upon recognized principles; there will be, as in the Old World, conflicts of interests, mutual compromises, and a balance of power, but the superior energy, intelligence, and wealth of the Northern States must, as we think, cause their influence to preponderate, and thus will enable them to occupy all the temperate regions of North America, with a population cultivating the soil by means of free labor, and renouncing the institution of slavery. We cannot concur in the opinion of those who have expressed unmingled regret at the apparent dissolution of the Union. No doubt the comparative failure of so great an experiment in the progress of mankind is to be deplored; but we are by no means convinced that the progress of mankind and of rational liberty will not be advanced by this separation. Nothing could be more deplorable than a sanguinary contest between the two great sections of the American people; but we are convinced, for numerous reasons, that such a contest, if it takes place at all, will be of very short duration. On the other hand, we confidently believe that the perils of the commonwealth will call a higher classof men to the direction of public affairs, and that the fate of millions of freemen will not long be abandoned to the corrupt and incapable agencies which have lately governed it. The severance of the Union into two parts will beget in both of them a stronger sense of the obligations of international law, and a greater respect for their neighbors. The South will follow the broad path of commercial freedom uncontrolled by Northern protectionists. The North will follow the higher track of social freedom unfettered by Southern slaveholders. To each division of the Union a vast career of power, prosperity, and usefulness remains open; and if they have the good sense to abstain from mutual aggression, each of these two great countries may continue to play as important a part in the affairs of the world as when they were united by the slender tie of a Federal compact.

Human Destiny. A Critique on Universalism. By C. F. Hudson, author of "Debt and Grace as related to the Doctrine of a Future Life." 12mo., pp. 147. Boston and Cambridge: James Munroe & Co. 1861.

The annihilation theory having been accused of affinity with Universalism, Mr. Hudson publishes the present volume to show the existing antagonism of the two. He claims that in the contest with Universalism he has "the advantage of position," not being obliged "to maintain the doctrine of eternal woe." His argument is divided into Five Parts. In the first he shows
some of the present occasions of TJniversalism; in the second he maintains that there exist "radically," and so perhaps persistently, "bad men;" third, he adduces the Scripture argument against universal final happiness; fourth, he maintains the belief expressed in the early fathers to have been favorable to the "immortality" of a class, and opposed to TJniversalism; fifth, the argument from philosophy and reason.

There is, of course, not a little repetition of previous views marshalled to a new issue. Yet there is much that is new, written with calm clearness and independence of thinking. The following passage illustrates his peculiar view of the mode of the cessation of the souls of the persistently bad:

I shall disclaim all opinion of a special or violent interposition on the part of God, in the final perishing of the wicked. My view is that the unrepenting sinner destroys himself; and though his self-destruction may not be complete in the death of the body, but in a second instalment of death, I shall still regard it not as miracle, but the natural process of the life divorced from an unloved God, languishing back to naught.

This view also cuts off a frequent objection that final punishment is 'vindictive,' and that God is wrathful in a bad sense of the word. It also allows the opinion that physical death is not a crisis in the history of one's being, and that one who has not deliberately rejected God and virtue before the dying breath, may embrace God and virtue thereafter. Thus I hold, and have long held, the salvability of the heathen. The doctrine of an intermediate state without change, and of an appointed limit of probation on either side of the interval between death and resurrection, may still be true.

I speak of 'persistently wicked' men. I do not assume that there are such, that being part of the argument. Nor do I desire to limit the power of God in this regard, but only to show that the soul may be so contaminated with sin that reformation would involve reconstruction, at the hazard of personal identity; or, that after a great sin the power of faith in God's forgiveness, or the possibility of happiness along with a faithful memory, may bo gone.—Page 23.

He assumes the doctrine of the freedom of the will. The doctrine of the necessitated will he believes to be more uniformly held by Universalists than by the so-called Calvinists.

For the memory of Horace Mann we cherish no little respect. His character as an educationist, a philanthropist, a writer, a thinker, and a man, is of the noblest type. The heroic stand he took in opposition to Daniel Webster's suicidal treason against the cause of truth and freedom, the brilliant effect with which he laid bare the sophisms of that great apostate, his country and his state, in their mania for sordid compromise, did not at the time appreciate; but it stands in history, and the record will brighten with advancing time. It will hereafter be noted how little our so-called greatest statesmen comprehended their position, how paltry were
their temporizing expedients, how disastrous their groveling policy; while the men of moral bearing and high integrity were as superior in the wisdom of their counsels as they were in the purity of their purpose. Let the lesson stand recorded for future admonition.

These sermons bear the stamp of his vivid, individualistic, earnest mind. Our impression is, that they exhibit not the high polish of style of some of his former productions. There is much with which we cannot accord. Yet every page is redolent with fresh views of permanent topics. Every paragraph is alive with restless thought. His congenial reader will obtain not only new views of many accepted truths, but will receive a quickening impulse for farther thought on topics of highest interest to humanity.

The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments. Translated and arranged with Notes by Leicester Ambrose Sawyer. Vol. 2. The Later Prophets. 12mo., pp. 384. Boston: Walker, Wise, & Co. 1861.

Mr. Sawyer published a new translation of the New Testament, which was received with so much severity by the critics that a man less sanguine or less confident of the goodness of his cause would have felt perhaps decisive discouragement. But the prosecution of his work through the prophets of the Old Testament shows that he "still lives." The present volume states by way of introduction the principles upon which he proceeds, which are in the main undeniably sound. The closing one third of the book is devoted to a defense of some of the questionable applications of his principles in his translation of the New Testament. Mr. Sawyer is an earnest thinker and a thorough scholar; and without indorsing all his views, we respect his single-hearted love of truth and his brave effort to advance the cause of accurate biblical knowledge.

Discourses on Sacramental Occasions. By Ichabod Spencer, D. D. With an Introduction by Gardiner Spring, D. D. 12mo., pp. 468. New York: M. W. Dodd. 1861. These are very rich discourses. They unfold those doctrines in which evangelical Christians coincide, and give expression to those experiences that belong to all truly spiritual Christian life. They may be safely recommended to the private Christian as a communion manual. They may be recommended to our ministry as a reminder how suggestive a topic, too much neglected in our Church, the communion is for pulpit discourse.

The genial piety, the manly liberality, the popular talent of Dr. Nicholas Murray gave him a high place in the public estimation, Fourth Series, Vol. XIII.—33

and in the community where he lived. His decease was felt by all classes and denominations as a common loss. The Legacy before us consists of four sermons upon, respectively, A Future World, A Personal God, The Soul and the Intermediate State. For a fifth discourse there is a text and a title—The Resurrection; "but," says the Introduction, " God, in his inscrutable providence, has left this subject open to pastor and people." The hand that should have written is mouldering; the spirit that should have dictated it has ascended.

Little Footprints in Bible Lands; or, Simple Lessons in Sacred History and Geography, for the use of Palestine Classes and Sabbath-Schools. By J. H. Vincent. With an Introduction by Rev. T. M. Eddy. 12mo., pp. 139. New York: Carlton & Porter.

The interior of this little work has a dry, catechetical look; but we can easily believe the assurance of Dr. Eddy, made from experience, that in the hands of a teacher of proper enthusiasm and intelligence, its exercises would abound in interest. The result would be to improve our youth in one of the most important and interesting branches of Scripture knowledge; a branch serving to give reality and zest to all the other branches, a clear knowledge of Scripture lands in the light of Scripture history. This method introduced into our schools would be a most important step of improvement.

Hebrew Men and Times, from the Patriarchs to the Messiah, by John Henry Allen. 12mo., pp. 435. Boston: Walker, Wise, & Co.

Mr. Allen has undertaken his work from a genuine love of his subject, and it is performed in a graceful and pleasing style. His standpoint is neological. His sources, besides the sacred books themselves, are Ewald's Geschichte des Volkes Israel, Francis W. Newman's History of the Hebrew Monarchy, and Bunsen's "Bibelwerk." He shows a fine sensibility to the poetic and picturesque phases of his subject. He exhibits no little philosophical skill in tracing the historical development of brighter and better religious thought through the Jewish ages up to the Christian. His faith in the supernatural is minimum if not nihil. It is a very available and agreeable manual for any one who wishes to glance at that aspect of the great subject.